Image-receiving material for transfer images

ABSTRACT

IMAGE-RECEIVING MATERIAL FOR TRANSFER IMAGES, MORE PARTICULARLY, IMAGE-RECEIVING MATERIAL FOR PRINTING OR PHOTOGRAPHIC TRANSFER IMAGES, WHICH IS PRODUCED BY APPLYING MICROCAPSULES HAVING WALLS OF HYDROPHILIC POLYMER FILM AND CONTAINING TRANSPARENT OR SEMI-TRANSPARENT PARTICLES TO A SUPPORT HAVING A METALLIC GLOSS WHICH REFLECTS THE LIGHT WELL.

ec- 19, 1972 SHIZUO MIYANO ETAL 3,706,593

IMAGE-RECEIVING MATERIAL FOR TRANSFER IMAGES Filed Dec. 9, 1969INVENTORS SHIZUO MIYANO KEISHIRO KIDO ASAJI KONDO EHCHI, MIZUKI S MM, WBY 4- Wk ATTORNEYS United States Patent Office 3,706,593 Patented Dec.19, 1972 3,706,593 IMAGE-RECEIVING MATERIAL FOR TRANSFER IMAGES ShizuoMiyano, Keishiro Kido, Asaji Kondo, and Eiiehi Mizuki, Asaka-shi, Japan,assignors to Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., Kanagawa, Japan Filed Dec. 9,1969, Ser. No. 883,496 Claims priority, application Japan, Dec. 10,1968, 43/ 90,349 Int. Cl. 1344:] /00 U.S. Cl. 117-127 11 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE Image-receiving material for transfer images, moreparticularly, image-receiving material for printing or photographictransfer images, which is produced by applying microcapsules havingwalls of hydrophilic polymer film and containing transparent orsemi-transparent particles to a support having a metallic gloss whichreflects the light well.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention The presentinvention relates to novel materials for receiving transfer images inprinting or photographic pI'OCfiSSCS.

(2) Background of the prior art In the following description, transferimage means that image transferred either from a printing plate or aphotographic matrix. Image-receiving material is defined as material forobtaining prints or photographic images from said transfer images.Hitherto, as the imagereceiving material, paper, synthetic resin filmsand metal films have been used in the field of printing, and receivingpaper produced by applying a hydrophilic polymer, such as gelatin orpolyvinyl alcohol, to baryta paper has been used in dye transfer ordiffusion transfer processes in the photographic field.

These image-receiving materials are used as the medium for expressingconcretely images having shape and colors, and image quality is largelyinfluenced by the material employed. Particularly in color printing orphotography, the quality of the receiving material has a great influenceupon image quality. In general, prior imagereceiving material isinsuflicient in lightness and gloss, which are the most importantfactors in evaluating image quality.

An object of this invention is accordingly to provide an image-receivingmaterial which exhibits good brightness and metal gloss.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This object is accomplished by the provision ofa new combination of microcapsules and a support possessing a metallicgloss, which reflects light. The image-receiving material of thisinvention is particularly useful in the fields of multicolor printingand trichromatic dye transfer photography, but is applicable as well toother fields of printing and photography.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of areceiving material of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a microcapsule in the receivinglayer of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the image-receiving material of this invention willbe explained. A support 1 has a surface 2 having metallic gloss whichreflects light well, and an image-receiving layer 3 coated thereon.

The image-receiving layer consists of microcapsules 4 includingtransparent or semi-transparent fine particles therein and a binder 5.Surface 6 of the layer is matted, since unevenness partially results inaccordance with the microcapsules shapes. However, the unevenness is sofine that it is hardly visible. This image-receiving layer 3 is a layeron which color images of inks or dyes are formed by printing orphotographic treatment as well as being a light diffusion layer, whichis a characteristic of this invention.

That is, microcapsules 4 operate as elements which diffuse lightreflected by the reflecting surface 2 of the support, because therefractive index of the microcapsules is slightly different from that ofthe binder. Consequently, homogeneous bright images can be obtainedwithout glare or hot spots. Furthermore, the images formed can becomfortably observed, since there is no direct reflection of light fromthe matt surface 6.

Referring to FIG. 2, the microcapsules will be explained. Themicrocapsule has a structure which consists of film 12, consisting of ahydrophilic polymer and one or a plurality of particles 11 of 0.1-5microns in size and enclosed by said film. The size of the microcapsuleitself may be from 2 to 50 microns, preferably 5 to 10 microns. Themicrocapsules should be transparent or semi-transparent when dry.Further, it is preferable to select the particles included in themicrocapsule, the wall film, and the binder for dispersing themicrocapsules such that the refractive indexes thereof are somewhatdifferent from each other.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As supports having metallic glossand which reflect light well, there may be mentioned foils, platedfilms, deposited film or plates of aluminum, zinc, tin, nickel,chromium, stainles steel, gold, silver and the like. Especiallypreferred are aluminum films and mirror aluminum deposited on syntheticresin film, in view of their low price and large reflectivity, i.e.,brightness. Further, a characteristic image-receiving material can beobtained by utilizing an aluminum plate having fine lines in thedirection in which it was formed by pressing the aluminum plate in aroll and which imparts directivity to reflected light. Thus, if lightparallel to the surface is applied to a surface having such fine linesin one direction, diffusion of the light is large in the phase at rightangles to the lines and is small in the phase parallel to the lines.

As the particles included in the microcapsule, fine transparentparticles of inorganic materials, such as glass or silica, syntheticpolymers, such as polystyrene, polyamide, polyester or vinyl resin,solvents having a high boiling point such as tricresyl phosphate,dibutyl phthalate, silicone, aliphatic alcohol, and solutions ofpolymers in such solvents may be employed.

As the materials forming the wall film of the microcapsules, it ispreferable to use a combination of a watersoluble protein having anisoelectric point such as gelatin, albumin, gum arabic, carboxy-mcthylcellulose, sodium alginate, agar-agar or dextran sulphate and a watersoluble material having acid groups in the molecule such as a copolymerof malic anhydride and vinyl monomer or polyvinylbenzene sulfonic acid.

These microcapsules possess a uniform particle size and can be producedeasily by the method described in US. patent specification 2,800,457, bywhich the wall films, composed of hydrophilic material, are subjected toa water-insolubilization by the use of a hardening agent.

The image-receiving layer of this invention is prepared by applyingmicrocapsules dispersed in a binder. As the binder, water-solubleswellable material such as gelatin, polyvinyl alcohol or sodium alginatecan be used. Although the thickness of the image-receiving layer can beselected from a range of 2 to 50 microns, a thickness of about 10microns is preferable since brightness is lowered and transfer imageseasily fade when the layer is unduly thick. The amount of the binderemployed is preferably equal to the amount of the microcapsules. But itmay be employed in any amount from V2 to 5 times that of themicrocapsules. It has been found that good image-receiving layers can beproduced when the amount of particles is equal to or slightly less thanthat of wall films.

In the following, an example of the production of an image-receivingmaterial of this invention and an example of the use thereof will beillustrated.

EXAMPLE 1 In 180 g. of a aqueous solution of gelatin, 18 g. of tricresylphosphate was emulsified by means of a supersonic emulsifier to form anemulsion having a particle size of less than 1 This emulsion was mixedwith 1.8 liter of a 1% aqueous solution of gum arabic. 33 ml. of 25%acetic acid was added thereto at 40 C. while stirring to lower the pH,whereby coacervation was caused and a complex coacervate of gelatin-gumarabic was precipitated around the oil drops, which gather and becomeoriginal oil-containing microcapsules having a particle size of about 7After gelling the coacervate by cooling, 1 ml. of 37% formalin wasadded, followed by 10% aqueous sodium hydroxide, with stirring toincrease the pH of the system in order to accelerate the hardening ofmicrocapsules. After one day, 400 g. of a microcapsule slurry wasobtained.

200 g. of this capsule slurry was mixed with 770 g. of a 3.6% aqueoussolution of gelatin as the binder. The mixture was warmed at 40 C. andapplied to an aluminum surface of Metalmee (trade name), produced byToyo Rayon Co., Ltd.) aluminum deposited under vacuum as a mirrorsurface on a polyester film.

An image-receiving layer of about 10 microns in thickness was producedby applying the above slurry in the amount of 4 ml. per 100 emi EXAMPLE2 Three 10 x 13 inch matrixes were prepared from a 4 x 5 inch colornegative film by the tricolor separation method. Images of each matrixwere dyed with yellow, magenta or cyan dye, and then the dyed imageswere transferred in this order onto the image-receiving material ofExample 1 to provide a color print.

The highlight portions of the images thus formed on the color print wereexcellent in lightness and all parts thereof were clear and bright. Inparticular, the image portion corresponding to a metal part of aphotographed original was a bright image having metal gloss due to thesupport. Further, since the surface layer of the color print was matted,light reflection therefrom did not occur and the images thereon had morebrightness and more strongly emphasized cubic effects than those ofconventional images transferred to a gelatin-coated baryta paper.

What is claimed is:

1. An image-receiving material adapted to receive images comprising asupport with a surface having a metallic gloss capable of reflectinglight and a microcapsule-containing layer coated onto said surface, saidmicrocapsule-containing layer consisting essentially of a plurality ofat least semi-transparent microcapsules dispersed in a binder for saidmicrocapsules, said binder being selected from the group consisting ofgelatin, polyvinyl alcohol and sodium alginate, said microcapsulesconsisting essentially of a hydrophilic polymer film enclosing at leastone particle, said particle having a refractive index different fromthat of said binder, said particle being composed of a material which isat least semi-transparent selected from the group consisting ofinorganic materials, synthetic polymers, high-boiling point solvents andsolutions of said synthetic polymers in said high-boiling point solventswhereby images can be formed on the surface of saidmierocapsule-containing layer which functions as a light diffusing layerto diffuse light reflected from the surface of the support having themetallic gloss due to said refractive index difference, therebyproviding a homogeneous bright image.

2. The image-receiving material as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidsupport is composed of a material selected from the group consisting ofaluminum, zinc, tin, nickel, chromium, stainless'steel, gold and silver.

3. The image-receiving material as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidparticles are transparent and selected from the group consisting oftricresyl phosphate, dibutyl phthalate, silicone and an aliphaticalcohol.

4. The image-receiving material as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidparticles are transparent and selected from the group consisting ofglass, silica, polystyrene, polyamide, polyester and vinyl resin.

5. The image-receiving material as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidparticles are transparent and comprise a high boiling point solventsolution of a polymer selected from the group consisting of polystyrene,polyamide, polyester and vinyl resins.

6. The image-receiving material as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidparticles have a size ranging from about 0.1 to 5 microns.

7. The image-receiving material as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidmicrocapsules have a size ranging from about 2 to 50 microns.

8. The image-receiving material as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidsupport comprises an aluminum plate having fine lines formed on thesurface thereof.

9. The image-receiving material as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidhydrophilic polymer film comprises a combination of a water-solubleprotein having an isoelectric point and a water-soluble material havingacid groups in the molecule thereof.

10. The image-receiving material as claimed in claim 9 wherein saidwater-soluble protein having an isoelectric point is selected from thegroup consisting of gelatin, albumin, gum arabic, carboxy-methylcellulose, sodium alginate, agar-agar and dextran sulphate,-and whereinsaid water-soluble material having acid groups in the molecule thereofis selected from the group consisting of a copolymer of malic anhydrideand a vinyl monomer and polyvinylbenzene sulfonic acid.

11. The image-receiving material as claimed in claim 1 wherein thebinder is employed in an amount of from about one half to about fivetimes the amount of the microcapsules.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,357,354 12/1967 Brynko l01-4722,969,330 1/ 1961 Brynko 252-316 3,317,433 5/1967 Eichel 2523162,002,733 5/1935 Earle 117-159 X 2,043,906 6/1936 Sheppard et al. 117159X 2,706,262 4/l955 Barnes ll7-159 X 2,800,077 7/ 1957 Marron l0l149.23,388,027 6/1968 Altman 11737 R X 2,574,971 11/1951 Heltzer.

3,582,495 6/1971 Emrick 117-100 S X ALFRED L. LEAVI'IT, Primary ExaminerI. R. BATTEN, JR., Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. C.X.

